By Sue-Ann Wayow
MEMBER of Parliament for Couva North Ravi Ratiram is calling on government to revise and re-activate the fuel rebate for fishermen so that the price of seafood would not have to be further increased.
The call comes after the meetings of the Standing Finance Committee in Parliament.
The examination of the estimates for the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries came under review on Tuesday.
Ratiram, the Opposition’s Shadow Minister of Agriculture, pointed to an issue related to the line item listed as ‘02 Incentive Programme’ within which there is provision for the payment of a subsidy to fishermen via a fuel rebate which remains unchanged at 10 cents per litre on diesel and 12 cents per litre on gasoline.
While the price of fuel has been raised five times by the PNM-led Government, the rate on the fuel rebate has not changed, Ratiram said.
He referred to a statement by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley in his Budget presentation in Parliament.
Dr Rowley said, “I know that in the Ministry there are provisions for some relief for fishermen with respect to fuel. I understand that it is not being fully utilized. We are going to look at it, again, Madam Speaker, and to see what kind of support we can give to fishermen because they have a case that we must look at.”
Ratiram said, “So the Prime Minister knows that there is a fuel relief subsidy that has not been fully utilized in spite of which, he has done nothing to assist our fisherfolk. In fact, this Rowley led Government has done the opposite, with the first set of hardship being inflicted when the PNM removed regular gasoline entirely from the market after they shut down Petrotrin.
“Following this, many fishermen switched to kerosene engines, because of the relatively lower cost. After a fifth fuel price hike under this Government, kerosene is now more expensive than diesel and fishermen have to pay three times more for diesel and kerosene than what they paid in 2015 under Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar.”
When Ratiram asked Agriculture Minister Kazim Hosein about the reduction in the 2022 estimates for this line item, from an initial allocation of $200,000 down to $150,000 and whether there were any arrears to be paid to fisherfolk, Hosein replied that there were indeed arrears.
When Hosein was asked whether the 2023 allocation of $200,000 would be sufficient to address what was required, Finance Minister Colm Imbert interjected, stating that Hosein may not be aware of the discussions yet to take place between himself (Imbert) and the Prime Minister. Imbert also pointed to the fuel subsidy and expressed that the Government was yet to formulate a plan to assist fisherfolk.
